1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guiding apparatus which guides a capsule medical device introduced into a subject and a capsule medical device guiding system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of endoscopes, a capsule endoscope has been developed which is formed in a size capable of being introduced into the alimentary canal of the subject such as a patient. The capsule endoscope has an imaging function and a wireless communication function in a capsule-shaped casing. The capsule endoscope is swallowed through the mouth of the subject, sequentially acquires image data for the images (hereinafter, also referred to as in-vivo images) of the internal organs of the subject while being moved in the alimentary canal by a peristaltic motion, and wirelessly transmits the acquired image data to a receiving device outside the subject. The image data received by the receiving device is input to an image display device and the image display device performs predetermined image processing on the image data. In this way, the in-vivo image is displayed as a still image or a moving image on a display. The user, such as a doctor or a nurse, observes the in-vivo image displayed on the image display unit and diagnoses the state of the internal organs of the subject.
In recent years, a guiding system including a guiding apparatus which guides the capsule endoscope in the subject using magnetic force (hereinafter, referred to as magnetic guide) has been proposed (for example, see Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2008-503310). In general, in the guiding system, a permanent magnet (hereinafter, also referred to as an internal permanent magnet) is provided in the capsule endoscope. In addition, the guiding apparatus includes a magnetic field generation unit, such as an electromagnet or a permanent magnet (hereinafter, also referred to as an external permanent magnet), applies the magnetic field to the capsule endoscope introduced into the subject, and magnetically guides the capsule endoscope to a desired position using magnetic attraction generated from the applied magnetic field. In this case, the guiding system includes a display unit which receives the image data acquired by the capsule endoscope and can display the in-vivo image in real time. The user uses an operation input unit provided in the guiding system to perform an operation of magnetically guiding the capsule endoscope, while referring to the in-vivo image displayed on the display unit.